Only the Ending
by Burning Ice Phoenix
Summary: It doesn't matter how you get there, just that you've arrived at the end. College AU. Five times Natsu's relationships didn't last and the one time it did. Each chapter is a different Natsu pairing; includes one genderbent character. First chapter is NaZa (Natsu x Erza). Second NatsuxCana.
1. Chapter 1

**1. **

"Jellal, _no_," Natsu pleaded as he grabbed onto the older man's arm, "Do _not_ leave me here."

The other sighed and turned around partially just so he could pry Natsu's hand off of his arm. It actually took an effort- Natsu was much stronger than he looked, which made him wonder why he felt so uncomfortable here. "Listen, I'll be right back. I left my wallet in my room, just hold my spot on line for me."

"I can go back and get it for you!"

Jellal scoffed, "Yea right. The moment you get inside, you're going to forget about me and play videogames."

Natsu had no response, it was very likely he would do that.

"The dorm's not far away, I'll be back in no time. Just wait here for a few minutes. What's there to be afraid of in a gym?" with those words, the blue-haired man turned and started walking up the path that led to the university's living communities.

"Jellal...!" Natsu let out one last childish whine before huffing in defeat and leaning against the wall the line of people were pushed up against. The semester had just started and the university's gym was having a first week special where students could use the equipment for free. Of course, the moment college students heard the word _free_, they all got up bright and early and started lining up in front of the gym half an hour before it even opened. Honestly, Jellal didn't even look like the muscle-head-extreme-workout type.

Nor was he, actually.

Natsu did have muscles, but those were from running around and jumping off roofs every day. He was always getting in trouble and running away from teachers and other disciplinary officers back in high school. Doing actual workout at a gym, though? No, he didn't like it here. It always felt like everyone was doing it for the sake of an image. Natsu did all the exercise because it was a side-effect from running around so much. (He had once mentioned how this ticked him off to his best friend and he got beat up so he didn't say this out loud to Jellal when he found him here.) Oh, and it didn't help that his sensitive nose gets overwhelmed by all the body odor everyone emitted. Ugh, he skipped gym class all the time for a reason.

So why was he here? Well, this morning, Natsu had woken up bright and early for a run around campus only to realize he had left his ID card (which got him into his building, suite, and room) on his desk. He was lucky that it was a Saturday and he didn't have a class to rush to. Standing awkwardly outside the dorm building, he quickly sent out a mass text to everyone in his suite asking for someone to let him in.

The only one who responded was Jellal.

Natsu had ran over to the gym quickly in hopes of being able to get back into his room sooner, but it turned out that Jellal wanted him to wait in line with him until the gym opened. The gym needed to check his ID or something before he could go inside. And then, of course, problems arose again- Jellal had left his wallet his room.

Now, Natsu was stuck waiting awkwardly and out of place in line. Anywhere else, he could easily strike up a conversation with a person next to him, but he didn't want to talk about how much he could bench or how many push-ups he could do. The thought just brought up the unpleasant smell of BO.

Two minutes after Jellal had left, the doors opened and the line started moving. "Oh shit," Natsu cursed under his breath as his turn came closer and closer. He didn't have his ID and Jellal would get mad at him for losing his spot online.

When it came to his turn, Jellal still hadn't returned yet. The lady behind the reception desk gave him a smile, "Your ID, please?"

"Uhhh..." Natsu struggled to find words to say. Could he stall any longer for Jellal?

Just as he decided he might as well tell the lady the truth, that he didn't have his ID and he was holding the spot for his suitemate, a voice called out, "He's with me! I can vouch that he's a student."

The lady's head turned to face a young woman with long red hair and a stunning figure. Natsu thought his eyes had popped out of their sockets and landed on the floor, "Wooow..." he breathed. She was hot! The tank top and the shorts only made it all the better... Thinking back, Natsu could remember a couple of hot girls back in high school, but he had never seen them wear anything more revealing than their gym uniforms, which... weren't revealing at all. Not to mention he skipped half the time so he never saw much. It wasn't as though the woman standing before him wore anything super revealing, but Natsu felt his throat tighten and butterflies flutter in his stomach.

"Oh... Well, alright, Ms. Scarlet," the receptionist lady said with a nod, "Mister, do you remember your ID number? If not, just give us your name and which building you live in."

Natsu nodded, finally tearing his eyes away from... Ms. Scarlet- gosh, he needed to get her name, at least! He quickly told the receptionist the information she needed and practically ran over to join Ms. Scarlet.

"Hey, uh, thanks..."

"You can call me Erza," she replied with a smile as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

Natsu smiled, "Erza! That's a nice name! I'm-"

"Natsu, I heard from your conversation outside."

So she was paying attention to him! The thought made Natsu's ego soar-

"Jellal and I have known each other for a while so since you guys are roommates, was it? Means that you're a student."

-Aaaand it sank. Of course she'd be interested in Jellal. That guy has girls' heads turning towards him the moment he steps into a room.

"We're suitemates," he mumbled, deciding that he might as well correct her.

"Oh," she chuckled, "He's a good guy, I'm sure you guys will have fun living together."

"Ha...ha..." Natsu laughed nervously.

"By the way, are you really afraid of gyms?"

"Huh?" Natsu blinked. Why was she asking about him? He thought that she was into Jellal? But he noticed that there was a curious sparkle in her eyes so maybe, just _maybe_, he had a chance with this gorgeous woman. "Oh, naaah. It's just that people smell bad after being in here for a while so I'd rather run around outside."

Erza raised her eyebrows, "...Do I smell?"

"No!" Natsu said quickly, "You smell... wonderful, actually."

Erza gave him a smile and looked slightly to her left. _She's embarrassed_, Natsu realized with a smirk. "Well, since you're here waiting for Jellal, why don't you work out a bit? You know, before the smell gets too bad?"

She stopped at a bench, "You said you run around, but do you bench?"

"Of course!" Natsu replied right away. Seeing Erza raise another intrigued eyebrow, Natsu quickly cleared his throat and drove away the apparent enthusiasm, "I mean, I do some heavy lifting."

"Oh," she replied, "Well, how much do you think you can lift?"

"Ehh~ Maybe around a hundred-fifty?" he didn't want to seem too impressive, _gotta keep the thirst in check_, he thought to himself with a chuckle.

"I can do better."

"What?!" woah! No matter how hot she is, Natsu refused to let anyone say they were better than him at something like weight-lifting, "I was just kidding! I haven't done any benching at a gym so I don't know my maximum."

"Wanna bet? You probably can't do even two-hundred."

"I'll do three-fifty! If I can't, I'll treat you to a shake."

"You're on!"

With that, the two of them got into position with Erza spotting and adding weights for Natsu to lift. They started with Natsu's supposed maximum. He lifted a hundred-fifty easily. Next was two hundred, it was just as easy. He could see Erza raise an eyebrow, she was impressed! At two-fifty, however, Natsu did begin to feel a bit of strain.

"Hey, you sure, about this? I don't want you to get hurt."

"Of course I'm sure!" Natsu huffed, "Don't take me for some weakling!"

With an uncertain frown, Erza moved to add more weights. At that exact moment, Jellal walked in, "Natsu! You're supposed to have been waiting for me- Erza?"

Erza let out a surprised gasp and dropped the weight she was holding... right onto Natsu's stomach.

"Arrgh!" Natsu cried out in pain and curled over, pushing the fifty pounds of metal to the ground. If it weren't for the six-pack he had worked up over the years, he might've really died.

"Oh my God, Natsu! I'm so sorry!" Erza quickly apologized, "Sorry, I'll catch up with you later, Jellal! I have to bring Natsu to the infirmary!"

"I'm... I'm fine-" Natsu wheezed, but Erza wouldn't hear any of it. He was about to protest more when his eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets for the second time that day as Erza picked him up bridal style _with ease_, "E-Erza?!"

"What? Actually, don't talk! We need to let a doctor look at you!"

Natsu looked back at Jellal, but his suitemate only looked away and coughed in an awkward apology.

A few hours later, after a checkup to make sure Natsu had no broken ribs or ruptured organs, he was sitting on the couch in the common room of the suite in a daze. The entire time he spent in that clinic, Erza had kept apologizing over and over again and in the end, she promised a date- well, not really, it was just lunch, but Natsu couldn't help letting his mind fly forward- to make it up to him.

About half an hour after Natsu had returned, Jellal walked in, "Oh, who let you in?"

"Sting came back," Natsu mumbled as he stared off at nothing.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jellal asked as he closed the door behind him. He was sure that Natsu was much stronger than a fifty pound weight, but he was behaving... odd. First of all, he had never in the past week (essentially, since he first met the pink-haired boy) seen him sit down quietly.

"Huh, um, yea, yea, I'm fine! Fine!" Natsu said quickly and the room fell into silence once again. Deciding that he didn't want the conversation to get any more awkward, Jellal turned to walk towards his room when Natsu spoke up again. "Hey, um, about Erza?"

"Hm?" Jellal turned around to face Natsu again.

"Uh... Well... what's your deal with her?" he mumbled, a faint blush dusting his cheeks.

Jellal's eyebrows shot up in surprise before his lips twisted into the half grin that the ladies on campus loved so much, "Ohh~ Got the hots for Erza, don't you?"

"S-Shut up!"

"We met freshman year," Jellal shrugged, "And she asked me out once last year. I turned her down."

"You turned _her_ down?" Natsu asked with wide eyes, "How?! Why?! Erza's... Erza's... gorgeous!"

Jellal shrugged again, "I'm not... looking for a relationship." He was in his junior year of college and many girls have asked him out over the past years. He had liked some of them back, but he decided that now wasn't the time he wanted to be in a relationship with anyone. All of that business can wait until school was over.

"Well, then..." Natsu mumbled, "Is it alright if I go on a date with her?"

"Of course?" Jellal answered in confused tone, "Why are you asking me for permission? Date whoever you want."

"I mean, we're suitemates and-"

"If I said no, would you not date her?" Jellal cut in. When Natsu didn't have an answer, he turned around and walked into his room. Natsu's naivety was beginning to annoy him.

Two weeks passed before Natsu saw Erza again and despite how entranced Natsu had been when he first saw her, he had actually completely forgotten about her over the past two weekends. Of course, the fact that he had gotten into a drinking contest with a girl at a party on Friday didn't help. And the fact that he had his first exam Friday morning which led to attending the party afterwards had made him forget about anything other than integrating the natural log.

"Natsu!" a familiar voice called out to him as he hurried through the dining hall. He had been in class the whole day and he was starving! Why did he think it was a good idea to make his schedule this cramped? Oh, right, because the freshmen signed up last and he couldn't get into the better timed classes.

"What?" Natsu yelled, irritated because he really wanted to get food as soon as he can and he hadn't even gotten on a line yet. He turned to face whomever just yelled at him and quickly took a breath in surprise when he saw Erza. "E-Erza! I-I didn't mean to yell-"

Erza laughed, cutting him off as he stared at her. He was sure that was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his entire life. "Would you like to join us for dinner?" she asked, nodding at the two girls that sat at the table with her.

"Sure!" Natsu said quickly. Erza was stunning, but the two sitting with her weren't bad looking either. "Just let me get some food first," he couldn't stop grinning.

For the rest of the month, Natsu ate dinner with Erza at least twice a week. Sometimes they had lunch together as well and on weekends that they could both wake up on time for, they'd have breakfast. At first, Erza's friends would join them at each meal or one of Natsu's suitemates (excluding Jellal, who Natsu decided inviting would be bad for his game plan) would tag along. Eventually, however, their meals would leave just the two of them at the table.

The two of them would talk about various things alone. They didn't have any classes together with a two year difference between them so they often talked about their hobbies or their homes or occasionally about one of Natsu's professors that Erza had as a freshman. From these chats, he learned that Erza really liked competitions. It wasn't just who can lift more weights at the gym, but she liked to run and fight, too- things that Natsu could relate to. She knew karate and could smash several bricks with just her fists and could flip someone three times her size over her shoulder.

"Isn't that judo?"

"You really think I only know one style of martial arts?"

It turned out Erza knew many. Natsu didn't believe her at first, but then he wound up on the back of his head with his ass up in the air. Yea... he believed her now, he didn't even know it was possible for him to land in such a way.

Another thing he discovered that made Erza's eyes shine were swords. Apparently she was part of both the fencing and kendo clubs. In fact, it sounded like she enjoyed sword fighting more than any other competition. She talked for an hour about all the different swords she had for different tournaments she participated in. Natsu could swear that the 'swords' used for fencing and kendo were not made of real metal despite what she was describing.

"I blocked to the left and then I," she picked up her paper cup as demonstration for the sword, "stabbed forward and won- OH MY GOSH, I'M SO SORRY NATSU!"

The cup was full of water. And Natsu just got sprayed headfirst with half a cup of water.

Erza hurriedly pulled napkins out of the napkin dispenser and started dabbing water out of Natsu's face. Natsu, who was shocked by the sudden shower, didn't say anything for a while. Then, without truly thinking about the consequences of his actions, he reached out and grabbed Erza by the arm, stopping her from cleaning the water off his face.

"Erza, will you go out with me?"

The older woman stared at him with wide eyes and a blank expression. Natsu, realizing what he just said, drew back and let go, quickly stuttering out an apology. However, Erza, reached over and caught his hand again, "Yes! Yes, I'll go out with you, Natsu!"

Natsu swore he heard bells of victory ringing in the distance.

* * *

><p>No one can blame Natsu for bragging about his new girlfriend, but Sting was really getting tired of it. He was already pretending to flip through the channels on TV to show that he wasn't interested, but Natsu just spoke loudly and quickly and occasionally doing hand gestures and Sting just wanted to smother himself with a pillow. Because if he smothered Natsu with a pillow, he was afraid that his corpse will still continue talking.<p>

"Natsu, I get it, you got yourself a great girl. Now would you just _shut the hell up_?" Sting said as he turned the television off and got off the couch and walked back towards his room.

"Aww don't be like that, Sting! It's alright, I'm sure you'll find a great girl, too! Oh, and I got a date tonight so have the drinking contest with Cana for me, okay?"

"Shut up, Natsu!" Sting yelled as he slammed the door behind him.

Despite his suitemate's attitude, he couldn't help but continue to grin after him as he leaned against the couch. Turning to the other person in the room, he asked, "So how about you, you got any plans for the night, Jellal?"

Jellal, who had been reading a book on the armchair, looked up, "Not really. I figured I'd go over a few notes for my geology quiz tomorrow. Why?"

"I was just wondering," Natsu answered. Afterwards, silence fell between them. Natsu didn't notice it, however, as he just continued to think happily about Erza and the coming date.

"Hey, Natsu," Jellal finally spoke up and the younger's head turned towards him, "Is this your first time in a relationship?"

"Yea."

"Hmm, I see."

"Why?"

"Be careful with Erza."

Natsu furrowed his eyebrows. Why? What kind of warning was that? Natsu was about to inquire further when an alarm on his phone went off. Half an hour until his date! He had to get ready! "Ohh, I better get dressed, I'll talk with you later, Jellal!"

"Hn," Jellal answered with a nod, his eyes never once leaving his book.

For the next twenty minutes, Natsu ran in and out of his room, sometimes in his underpants, trying to get all the right hair products and colognes and occasionally stopping by to ask Jellal for his opinion in what Erza might like. Finally, he had gone out to pick up Erza. After he left, Sting came out of his room and turned on the TV, "Finally. I thought he was never going to leave. Now I can watch my game," he mumbled.

"Wanna bet how long he'll last?" Jellal asked.

Sting frowned, "Isn't that a bit mean? To think he'll get dumped so soon?"

"Oh, _no_, I don't think _he'll_ get dumped."

"What? You're saying he'll dump Erza? No way, not with how excited he is."

"So you're betting never?"

"Well..." Sting shook his head, "Why're we doing this anyways?"

"For fun. I'm going to say he'll last about a week and a half."

* * *

><p>Natsu didn't have a car, not yet. His dad said he would give him the old one if he did well on his first semester. So for the time being, he had to either walk everywhere or take the bus. Taking the bus for a date, however, sounded rather...lame so he planned to call a taxi. When he met up with Erza, she had a better idea.<p>

"Let's run."

"...Run?"

"Yea, the restaurant isn't that far away, right? Downtown?"

"Yea, but..." Natsu stared at her wide eyed. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't mind running there at all. The distance wasn't that bad, only about six or seven miles. He had run further back in high school, "The only way to get there is through the highway."

"So?"

"You want us to run five miles down a mountain on a highway then through downtown?"

"Yea!" Erza said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"But-" before Natsu could continue, Erza had grabbed his hand broke into a run towards the campus exit. And what the hell, this lady had fingers made of steel. "Wait, Erza! Erza, no! Stop- AHHH!" they hadn't even reached the high way and Natsu just nearly got ran over by a car.

"Erza, this is insane!" but he wasn't sure she even heard him over the roar of the cars on the high way.

When they arrived at the restaurant twenty minutes later, Natsu wasn't sure why he was still alive. Erza had ran down the road like she was completely used to this with Natsu flailing behind her. He would've expected her to run at the edge of the highway, at least, but not Erza! She liked going where ever she liked so she zigzagged between the lanes. Natsu thought he nearly died several hundred times in the first ten minutes. Pretty soon, he caught on that as long as he followed Erza's path, he could avoid most of the cars.

They had both broken a light sweat by the time they sat down at a table, Natsu was thankful that he ran a lot each morning. The last thing he wanted to do was look pathetically weak in front of Erza. Dinner was fairly uneventful with them chatting and eating like a normal couple. They even saw a few of their friends nearby. Natsu recognized Loke from his calculus class with a girl. The blonde girl looked familiar, maybe he had a class with her too.

As soon as the food arrived, Natsu started digging in without thinking. He had ran all the way here, of course he was starving! All that energy used... Besides, Erza should be used to his eating habits by now- "Ow!" Natsu yelped as he felt a crushing pain on his left foot.

"Natsu! Where are your manners?" Erza demanded as Natsu put down his fork and nursed his foot, "People are staring at us."

"Because you just nearly broke my toe!"

"No, they've been staring since before that. Now stop complaining and eat properly," there was a scary glint in Erza's eye and Natsu suddenly felt like a mouse in front of a lion. He shrunk back and started picking at his food with his fork slowly and taking smaller bites. It seemed to please Erza as she soon sat back and relaxed as well.

"Are we running back as well?" Natsu asked nervously as they left the restaurant.

"No, it's bad to run on a full stomach. Let's take a taxi back."

Natsu let out a grin of relief as he shifted through his wallet for a taxi driver's business card. He had gotten quite a few of those during his first month in college. The taxi arrived in a few minutes and it only took about ten minutes to get back onto campus. Natsu paid for the ride and walked Erza back to her room.

"Thank you for the date, Natsu," Erza said as she unlocked her room, "I had lots of fun." Natsu was about to respond when she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Whatever words were in his head flew out of his mind and he stood there with his mouth opened, staring at her with a stupidly happy expression. Grinning, Erza said good night, walked into her room, and closed the door. It was only after Natsu walked down the hall that he jumped and punched the air in victory.

* * *

><p>"She kissed me! That was my first kiss!" Natsu said excitedly as he sat backwards on his chair, hugging it tightly.<p>

"She kissed you on the cheek," Sting replied as he pressed quick combos on his wii-mote. He was trying to concentrate on playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl, but Natsu kept trying to talk with him, "Hey, why don't you tell this to your roommate?"

"He's not here."

"Text him."

"I don't have his number."

Sting frowned, come to think of it, he didn't have Natsu's roommate's number either. Hell, he didn't even remember the guy's name, "Did I ever meet your roommate?"

Natsu shrugged, "I don't know, he's never around. He comes back like once a week in the middle of the night to get books or something."

"So a library nerd?"

"I don't know, I haven't talked with him in weeks. But anyways, about Erza-"

Sting let out a very loud and audible groan.

Two days later, Monday morning, Natsu's phone started ringing. He was about to bash the snooze alarm on it when he realized that Erza was calling him, "Hello?" he answered sleepily.

"Natsu! I was wondering if you'd want to go mountain climbing."

"Mountain climbing?"

"Yea, it'll rain in the afternoon so I figured we should go before then."

"Sure?" Natsu wasn't quite awake yet, but any time spent with Erza was good time.

"Great, I'll meet you in front of the nature preserve in five minutes."

"Wait, in five minutes?" Natsu now sat up, confused.

"Yes."

"It's three in the morning!" he exclaimed. It was still dark outside!

"Yes, we don't want to miss class, right? I'll see you in five minutes," Erza said and hung up, leaving Natsu with dial tone. Natsu sat in his dark and empty room, conflicted. While he liked having early morning runs, he didn't really mountain climb a whole lot. And he wanted to sleep, dammit. But he also didn't want to ditch Erza, she _is_ his girlfriend.

With a groan, he got out of bed and started getting ready for his mountain climbing date.

* * *

><p>"Hey, is he alive?" Gray asked as she sat down at the lunch table. Gray, Natsu's best fri-enemy from high school occasionally joined Natsu and his suitemates for Monday lunch. It was one of the rare days in the week that Natsu didn't eat with Erza because of their class schedules.<p>

In response to Gray's question, Natsu let out a groan, but kept his head down on the table.

"Erza made him go mountain climbing this morning," Sting answered for him.

"What? You couldn't handle a little mountain climbing?" Gray teased, "You're going soft."

"Shut. Up," Natsu hissed as he sat up and leaned against the back of his seat, "If I knew in advance, I'd be okay. But you try being dragged out of bed at 3AM to climb for five hours and then stay awake for class."

"Coulda just slept through it."

"No, I needed..." Natsu let out a yawn, "It's... calculus. Midterm coming... up."

"Just who's this Erza anyways, I'm surprised she made you do something you didn't want to," Gray smirked, "Someone you got a crush on?"

"Erza's his girlfriend," Sting said.

"Your girlfriend?!" Gray's eyes widened in shock and her mouth threatened to drop to the floor, "Natsu got a _girlfriend_?"

"Why are you so shocked?"

"Because! You're... you're Natsu. You're not supposed to be dating girls."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, bitch?" Natsu yelled, jumping up.

"Who the hell do you think you're calling a bitch, fucking weak little douche?" Gray yelled back.

"Wanna fight?!"

"Hell yea!"

The two of them rushed outside of the dining hall to start their brawl. Sting, who remained in his seat looking over some notes for his English class mumbled, "Thought he was tired..."

Half an hour later, Natsu was sitting in the infirmy with a black eye. Sting had called Erza who came running to check on him. "What happened to you?" she asked as she dropped down to sit next to him.

"Got into a fight with Gray," he mumbled, "I would've won if I wasn't so tired!"

"Who's Gray and you shouldn't have been fighting to begin with!"

"A friend... from high school," Natsu let out a yawn, "I shouldn't have gone mountain climbing this morning. I wouldn't be so tired otherwise."

"What, are you saying this is my fault?" Erza asked with narrowed eyes.

"It kinda is. No normal person goes mountain climbing before the sun rises."

"...What are you trying to say?"

Natsu shrugged in response.

"No, tell me. What do you mean by 'no normal person'?" she demanded.

With a frustrated sigh, Natsu stood up and yelled, "Nobody does the crazy shit you do! Half the things you do could be labeled as insanity! I mean, who runs down a highway on a date? Murder her boyfriend's toes for eating without manners? And that time at the pool when you shoved my head underwater for a full minute to _push my limits_? I could've died! You're not sane, woman-"

Natsu felt a sharp pain on his cheek as a crack sounded across the room. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, staring at Erza towering above him with an angry expression. He had never seen her that angry before and it _scared_ him.

Before he knew what was going on, he was picked up by the collar and a second punch was delivered to his jaw.

"You want to say that again, _darling_?" Erza asked as she cracked her knuckles.

"Shit, Erza, I-"

All of a sudden, Erza dropped her fists and hung her head with a sigh, "Forget it. Don't ever talk to me again."

"Wait, Erza-" but she had already turned and left the room. With a defeated sigh of his own, Natsu sat down on the infirmary bed again and ran a hand through his hair, "I fucked up."

For the next three days, Natsu kept trying to apologize. He tried waiting outside Erza's classes, but she just ignored him. The fifth time he did that, she punched him in the stomach, which left him stunned on the floor for a good ten minutes. He tried calling and texting her to apologize, but she ignored all of it.

Finally, he left one last voicemail, "I'm sorry. I'll stop...I'll stop bothering you from now on. But, I really wanted to apologize for all the things I said. You're...quirky. You've got your own traits that make you wonderful and well, I just wanted to say that. And hopefully we end at a better note."

He tapped 'end call' on his phone and laid down on the suite's couch face down. _I fucked up. I fucked up real bad_, he thought to himself as he heard a door open. Looking up, he saw Jellal walk in and sit on the armchair and open up a book to read.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?"

"Actually, no," Jellal answered, "I expected her to wear you out, but not have you trying to crawl back to her."

Natsu frowned, "I said some things I shouldn't have." Natsu felt his voice shake and quickly buried his head in the couch again, "I _hurt_ her. I thought... I thought that by the time I made it into college, I'd have grown up a bit. But in the end, I'm just the same. I can't get over being childish and hurtful."

"I wouldn't say that-"

"That's it!" Natsu wiped away the tears and sat up properly on the couch, "Fuck being mature, I'm in college, I can do whatever the hell I want!" With that declaration, he stood up and stomped into his room, slamming the door behind him.

"Shit..." Jellal mumbled. Technically, none of this had anything to do with him. Still, he couldn't help but worry about what might happen in the near future.

* * *

><p><strong>Inspiration from this video:<strong>

**/watch?v=HIPJrrQlxzY**

**Or just search "The Six Girls You Date in College" on youtube because from what I know, ff doesn't let you highlight things anymore. (Which makes things difficult for me because I tend to highlight as I read to focus better;; )**

**So I wrote this on a whim, I know I still have **_**so**_** many unfinished fics that I haven't even looked at in months. This one was supposed to be a one-shot, but just this first one with Erza turned out **_**so damn long **_**(15 pages!), I might as well turn this into a multi-chap fic with one chapter for each girl. **

**Hopefully I got their personalities right. I feel like in an AU, all of their extreme personalities would mellow out a bit. Still, I tried my best to keep them in some relation. And for the sake of plot, Natsu isn't dead-set afraid of Erza, but I think in the end, he kinda is anyways xD Also for plot purposes is his lack of motion-sickness and Gray being a girl. I guess it's worth noting that the campus in this story is based off of the university I attend. It's in the mountains and getting to just about anywhere requires you to walk through a highway. Although, we have a sidewalk-ish thing, Natsu didn't xD**


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

Despite his declaration to Jellal, Natsu couldn't help but feel lonely and often found his mind stuck on Erza. As much as he wanted to throw everything out the window, he missed her. He wanted laugh with her, hug her, and maybe even kiss her for real. Well, considering how much she hated his guts now, that was never going to happen.

So a week before midterms, Natsu knocked on Sting's door and asked, "Hey, you going out tonight?"

"Yea," Sting replied, opening the door as soon as he put on a fresh pair of jeans, "I need a few drinks."

"Me too," Natsu said, implying the obvious question of, _can I come along_? Honestly, he didn't need to ask. The entire suite had felt some degree of sympathy for Natsu's breakup. The poor guy had been so excited about the whole dating thing and it had gone completely down the drain for him. Jellal was right, Erza was definitely too much as Natsu's first girlfriend.

"Well, you ready to go? Laxus said he would drive."

"Yea, I'm-" Natsu looked down at his bare legs and remembered that he hadn't quite put on pants yet, "I'll be back in a second. The last thing I need is people thinking I've turned into Gray." Sting gave a chuckle at Natsu's joke.

When they arrived downstairs in the parking lot, Laxus had already been waiting along with Gray. She was sitting shotgun and got into a small argument with Natsu about keeping the seat.

"It's my turn to sit there, Gray!"

"No! And since when did we start taking turns?"

"Natsu, just get in the fucking backseat," Laxus growled, "Before I drive off without you."

Gray gave him a triumphed look and Natsu restrained the urge to choke her as Sting pulled him into the backseat. Slamming the door shut, Laxus drove off immediately, "We need to get there early before they start charging extra."

"I get in for free so no problem," Gray smirked before catching a fuming Natsu's eye in the rearview mirror. "So. Not on a date with your _girlfriend_ tonight, Natsu?"

"We broke up," was a response so icy, it even chilled Gray.

"...Oh," was her only response as she leaned back in her seat uncomfortably, "How come nobody tells me anything anymore?"

"Well, you don't ask," Natsu's tone was still one of irritation and he caught a flash of hurt in Gray's eyes. He knew he was being somewhat unfair. He really didn't tell Gray anything anymore. They fought all the time in high school, but it was their way of expressing their friendship. While he would never admit it out loud, he had been happy when he heard that Gray was going to the same college as he was. Despite that, their relationship had deteriorated since they came here.

Rather than responding, Gray reached over to play with the dials for the car's radio before deciding to hook it up to her ipod. Everyone visibly flinched when Justin Bieber's _Baby_ came on. In fact, Natsu could swear he actually burst into flames of anger. Since that was impossible, he dug his nails into the car seat instead.

"Why do you have this song in your ipod?"

"Natsu, take your nails out of the seat or else you're paying for repairs."

"Gray, turn that off!"

"Why?" Gray smirked, "Didn't you love this song when we were in ninth grade?" Natsu felt his face heat up as the other two males in the car turn to him with a questioning look.

"I was like thirteen!" said at the same time as the lyrics hit that line.

"Ooooh~ You even know the lyrics," Gray grinned, "Wonderful, keep singing! Your voice still sounds as pre-pubescent as his so it goes along well!"

"GRAY!" Natsu leaped up and tried to grab the girl in a choke hold just as Laxus hit the brakes, sending Natsu flying back into his seat.

"We're here," Laxus said nonchalantly (or maybe he really just didn't care that he nearly killed Natsu) and opened the car door. The others followed him out. Except for Natsu, he was still re-orientating himself after that violent stop.

"Whoo... It's hot in here," Gray said as she walked into the frat house after the boys paid their entrance fee. Immediately, she took off her coat and handed it to the person managing the closet. She took her number, but it was likely that she'll forget it by the end of the night and will have to ask on the school secrets page the next morning for who had her coat. Her coat and probably the rest of her clothes as well.

Without a word, Laxus had walked over to whichever part of the house was serving beer. Sting muttered a 'see you later' and went down to the basement where the dance floor was. Pretty soon, it was just Gray and Natsu left.

"Let's go play beer pong!" Gray suggested, pulling at Natsu's arm.

"Hell no, drunk you is even worse than sober you," Natsu grumbled, clearly still angry about what happened in the car. Gray looked like she wanted to protest, but left anyways.

Left alone, Natsu decided he would go to the bar as well. When he got there, however, he didn't see any sign of Laxus so he assumed that he must've found someone to take to a bedroom upstairs already. Natsu wouldn't be surprised. Laxus wasn't Jellal, but he had an impressive presence at a party. Besides, Laxus was the designated driver for the night, he couldn't be allowed to drink more than a cup and a half. That much was generous, but only thanks to the fact that he had the BMI for it.

"One full cup," Natsu answered when the frat boy serving asked how much he wanted. He chugged it down in one go and asked for another. Natsu was a fairly strong drinker and the beer this place served was fairly watered down so even though he was at his third cup, he still wasn't feeling anything. "Oh, c'mon, I came here to get wasted, not stay sober all night!" he complained as he pushed his cup over for another drink.

"Well, if you want to get wasted, you could try drinking against me again," a voice behind him said. He turned around just in time to miss the person sliding into the seat next to him. When he looked again, he recognized the girl.

"Cana!"

"Haven't seen you in a while, Natsu. Thought for a moment that I scared you off at our last contest," she smirked as she asked for a full cup. "So, wanna go again?"

For a moment, Natsu hesitated, before answering, "You're on!" He needed this.

Cana is a sophomore who gained notoriety on campus for her bottomless pit of a stomach for alcohol. She always attended parties every weekend just to challenge others to drinking contests. And she had never lost once. Not even to Natsu, not even to Laxus. Nobody knows how she does it, but even with all that drinking, she managed to keep a nice figure that made any girl jealous.

Twenty cups later and in the middle of a crowd that gathered to watch the drinking contest, Natsu was drunk and Cana wasn't even tipsy.

"I don't need them! I don't need fucking no one!" Natsu yelled as he slammed his cup on the bar. "Fuck relationships, I'm perfectly fine on my own! I mean, the only reason I feel bad is because I made Erza sad, otherwise, I'm perfectly fine like this. I can take on the entire world on my own!"

"Mmhmm," Cana responded with a sip of her beer. The contest was over, everyone could tell. There wasn't a need for her to put on a show anymore, she could take it easy.

"Hey, hey, weren't we having a contest? I'm going to win!" he slurred as he picked up a cup and downed it as well, "Another! More!"

"You sound pretty lonely, Natsu."

"Hell no, I'm not lonely! I just said it, I'm doing perfectly fine on my own. I just think about Erza now and then, but it doesn't mean anything."

"You're a weird ass drunk," Cana mumbled, "You're in denial, but you're not the sad type either."

Suddenly, Natsu threw his cup on the floor and slammed his hands against the bar, "Hey! What the hell was that?" The bartender backed away fearfully as Natsu grit his teeth against him, "Why the fuck was there a bee in the soup? And I said I wanted the special barbeque fire on the menu! Why isn't it here yet?"

Cana snorted before reaching over and pulling Natsu down on his seat again, "So you're an angry, dumb drunk."

"Who the hell are you calling dumb?" Natsu roared as he shoved Cana's hand off him. Then he turned to the server again, "Another drink!"

"Woah, buddy, I think you've had enough for the night."

"Hell no, I can handle more, give me another drink already!"

"Tsk, where are your friends? Who did you come here with?"

"...People? I don't remember."

"Shit," Cana didn't want to leave yet, but it didn't seem like Natsu was going to stop drinking until somebody dragged him out of the place. And she had no idea who he had came here with tonight. "Alright, come on, let's go!" she couldn't possibly leave him here like this. She grabbed him by the shoulders and started pulling him off the seat.

"No! I want my dri-" Cana let out a sigh as Natsu vomited. Yep, she knew it was going to happen, of course, but she had hoped to get him outside before it happened.

"Hey get him out of here," one of the disgusted partiers yelled as Cana tried to apologize and drag Natsu away.

"Hey, where do you live?" Cana asked when they finally made it out of the house and onto the street. Instead of answering, Natsu vomited again and swayed slightly before passing out. "Hey! Hey! Shit... You better not be dying on me."

* * *

><p>When Natsu woke up, he was in a white room that smelled heavily of rubbing alcohol. It took him a moment to realize he was in a hospital room. Shifting around, he felt his head throb and let out a groan as he rubbed his temples. <em>What happened last night<em>, he wondered, but he had an idea of what must have happened. And it made him feel like a total dumbass. He actually drank enough to black out. Whatever the case, he had better find out who brought him here and thank them-

"You're awake," a sleepy groan came from behind him. Sitting on a chair next to the bed, just outside of Natsu's peripheral vision, was Cana.

"Cana!" after a pause, he asked, "Did you bring me here?"

"Yea, you owe me big time."

"Oh... Uh, thank you," Natsu mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up. He had already decided to thank whomever helped him so why did he feel embarrassed? Maybe because of all the people, it _had_ to be Cana, a girl who didn't ever seem to black out from drinking.

"Anyways, I texted whomever it was that you last texted so someone can come pick us up."

"Wait, you don't drive?"

Cana furrowed her eyebrows and frowned, "I do, but why would I bring a car with me to a party where I knew I was going to drink a lot?"

Natsu felt embarrassed again, this time for thinking that Cana would be irresponsible just because she drank a lot. "So... I guess I got into a drinking contest with you?"

"Yep. And I won."

"Does this happen a lot for you?"

"Ignoring the fact that you lost, huh? To answer your question, though, not really, most people remember who they came to a party with so they get home alright. This is only the second time it's happened."

"Why are you still here?" Natsu reached over to the other chair by his bed which held a bag of his belongings. He dug out his cell phone and searched up who Cana texted.

"No reason," Cana responded, "Didn't have enough cash on me to call another cab."

_Natsu's in the hospital, doctors say he can leave in the morning. Come pick him up_, was the last text on his phone-

Natsu dropped the phone in shock. Thankfully, it just landed on the soft blanket of the hospital bed. "What the hell, Cana?" he yelled. He might've been loud enough to wake all the patients on the floor. Cana only smirked in response as Natsu glared at her, "Erza was definitely _not_ the last person I texted!"

"Yea, well, I called your roommate, and all I heard was weird shouting in the background. Is he okay? His friends sound... violent."

"Wait, why didn't you text him instead?" Natsu knew he had his roommate's contact listed just as _Roommate_ so Cana would've found it easily.

Cana shrugged, "Besides, don't you want to see and talk with her again?"

Natsu remained silent as he started a new message to Laxus to beg him to come pick them up. "It's not like she'll care."

"Erza's not heartless, you know? I know her fairly well."

"She won't talk with me," just as he was about to hit send, the door to his room opened and Jellal walked in.

"Erza texted me to come pick you up."

Natsu nearly dropped the phone again.

* * *

><p>"So she does care," Cana argued.<p>

"What does it matter?" Natsu grumbled through a mouthful of sandwich, "She still won't talk with me." He didn't understand why he was having lunch with Cana of all people. They weren't particularly close before she saved his life, but it wasn't like he was looking to be best friends with her either. Hey, where was the rest of the lunch crew anyways?

Cana sighed and leaned back against her chair, "Hey are you busy this weekend?"

"Got-" slurp, "nothing-" munch, "planned," gulp. Natsu finished his drink, the main course, and desert in a matter of minutes, making Cana do a double take. But it didn't matter how many times she shook her head or blinked, the food had definitely all disappeared too quickly.

"How'd you do that?" she mumbled.

"Do what? Hold that thought, I'm going to get more food. Want anything? I do owe you."

"A beer."

"Okay!"

"Wait, Natsu! They don't sell that here _and_ you're underaged!"

"So you don't want a beer?"

"I don't want you to get suspended!"

Afterwards, Cana had to drag Natsu back down to the booth and explain to him exactly why he couldn't waltz up to the counter and ask for a beer. As ridiculous as it seemed to Natsu, who was convinced that he had a way to get her a drink, he agreed with what she was saying so that she would let him go get his second lunch.

"Anyways, you want to go hang out with a few people I know this weekend?"

Natsu, not really paying attention (he was too busy eating that whole chicken), shrugged, "Sure."

"Great, it's a date, then!"

Natsu nodded and Cana soon said that she had a class to run to. It was ten minutes later before Natsu furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head upwards while gnawing on a chicken bone, "Date?" Wait, why was this a date? Weren't they meeting up with a few people? Licking the grease and sauce off his fingers before reaching for a napkin to clean up, Natsu tried to come up with an answer.

All he got was a headache so he gave up. Throwing away his trash and grabbing his bag, he hurried to his next class.

That week was midterms week. Natsu wasn't an A student, but he had his occasional moments. Most of the time he got B+, but never anything below B-. His suitemates weren't sure how he did it with all the time he spent running around, eating, playing video games, and sleeping. They were practically certain that he couldn't sit still long enough to study for one subject, let alone four. Either way, by the time Friday rolled around, Natsu was simply looking forward to crash.

"Mn," Natsu rolled over his bed to the buzzing noise coming from his table. "Hello?" oh wait, it's a text, _hey, Natsu, where are you? We're all ready to go._

Natsu stared at the message in puzzlement before the realization hit, "Oh, shit!" He really didn't want to go anywhere tonight. Quickly, he made a response, _sorry, not tonight. I'm dead._

_But you said you'd come,_ was the response.

So he did... _Can I make it up to you tomorrow?_

There was no response from Cana so Natsu dropped the phone back on his table and buried his head under the covers. Minutes later, he heard loud banging on the suite door. He ignored it and soon heard some muffled voices. _It's fine_, Natsu thought to himself, _I locked the room door, too._

"...Hm, sure. If it's for a second."

Shit, that voice sounded familiar.

"Thanks... Oh, nice to meet you! See you around!"

The door slammed open and the sound of heels resounded through the room as Cana walked over to Natsu's bed, "Wake up! C'mon, Natsu!"

"How'd you get in here?" Natsu groaned as he held onto the sheets, "C'mon, just let me sleep..."

"I need a date so you're coming with me!"

"Why?!"

There was a momentary silence before Cana answered, "...I don't want to be a third wheel."

"Then don't go?"

"I want to go to this party! I heard they have really good wine and great food!"

"Food?" Natsu immediately perked up and got out of bed, "Okay, I'm coming!" He hurried to open his closet and was about to take his shirt off when he realized that Cana was still in the room. "Hey, I need to change."

"Just leave at the least your boxers on," Cana shrugged, "If I leave, you'll probably just fall back asleep and this time I can't ask your passing roommate to open the door for me."

"I won't!" Natsu protested, but he had already pulled off his shirt and was digging through his closet for a clean one. It took a bit of a hassle, but Cana at least agreed to turn around while Natsu changed out of his pants. For a moment, Natsu really didn't understand how Cana could be so calm about it. Yes, she was a year older than him and therefore _probably_ more mature, but... it was as if she had gotten used to a lot of things already... Bringing binge drinking students to hospitals, going on dates with people, barging into a guy's room and watching him change... He almost wondered if he would be the exact same a year from now.

He certainly hoped not.

* * *

><p>"Here's your ID," Loke said as he handed a card over his seat to Natsu. When Natsu gave him a questioning look, the ginger chuckled, "You're not even twenty yet, kid. Don't think you can possibly get into places like these on your own. Now, seatbelts <em>on<em>. I'm not getting into _that _much trouble tonight."

Cana sat beside Natsu in the backseat while the blonde girl Natsu had seen with Loke on his first date with Erza sat in the passenger seat beside Loke. He still felt that she looked familiar, but couldn't recall her name and found himself staring at her through the rearview mirror.

A few minutes later, she caught his eye and gave him a small smile, "Something you want to say to me, Dragneel?"

Natsu blinked, caught off guard at being caught staring and quickly looked away, "No, not particularly." He didn't say anything more, but he did notice Loke giving him an amused glance through the rearview mirror. He didn't see what Cana's reaction was in the dark, but he felt her fingers brush against his. He quickly moved away; he didn't know if she did as well.

The car rolled to a stop in front of a nightclub and Natsu saw why the ID would come in handy. All of them were underage. Unlike at a frat party, they were going to check. However, Cana had said that this place was really nice?

"You guys get off first," Loke said as they all unbuckled seatbelts and started opening the doors of the car. "I need to find a place to park. And hey," he turned to Natsu, "Follow her lead," he motioned to his date, "And don't act like a clueless brat."

"Who the hell is a clueless-" but Loke didn't let him finish and drove away, making Natsu stumble backwards a few steps, falling into Cana's arms.

"Chill out, Natsu," Cana said as Natsu steadied himself, "Loke's only joking. Now, c'mon! You don't want to get stuck outside and prove him right, right?" She offered him his arm and with a grumble, he took it and together, they walked over to the front entrance where Lucy was talking with the bouncer and flashed her ID. Watching her carefully, he did the same when the bouncer asked to check his. Quickly, before the man could see that he was not some guy named _Coby_.

The bouncer stepped outside and let them in where Loke's date was waiting behind the door. Cana quickly let go of him and went to chat with her while Natsu followed behind, not even remotely interested in their conversation about dresses and heels. The further they walked inside, the louder the music became and Natsu soon saw a flurry of bodies huddled around, jumping and swaying. He wrinkled his nose and squinted as a light flashed by, blinding him momentarily.

...And in that minute both Cana and Loke's date disappeared.

With an annoyed grumble, Natsu began to try to weave through the crowd. Cana had said there was good food and he did smell something other than alcohol at the other side of the room. It better be worth it when he makes it there...

After pushing through sweaty body after sweaty body, Natsu finally made it to an area with couches and small tables. Sitting down to cool off and take a breather, he looked around. Still no sign of the people he came here with tonight. As he was searching, a waitress approached him.

"Would you like something to eat, sir?"

"Huh?"

"Since you got in, you must have membership so whatever you order for tonight is free," the waitress said with a smile.

Natsu's eyes widened, "Well, I'll take ten of everything, then!" he said with a grin.

The waitress looked stunned, "T-ten?"

"Actually, make that twenty."

"Sir, are you going to be able to eat all of that?"

"Of course!"

The waitress frowned, "If you can't, you might be asked to leave or pay for anything you couldn't eat."

Natsu shrugged, "That won't happen."

Still uncertain, the waitress nodded and left to place the order with the chefs. After she left, Natsu leaned back against the couch and grinned happily at the thought of food. The place was loud and full of screaming people, but Natsu didn't mind now that he knew he got to eat. In fact, he was kinda happy that Cana made him come after all. A few minutes later, the waitress returned with several plates of food. Natsu's jaw nearly dropped to the ground as he saw the amount of it. In minutes, he was already finished with everything in front of him. The waitress was left speechless as she came with the next part of his order.

Half an hour later, Natsu was full and on his tenth drink of... something with a bizarre name that had to do with sex. Apparently his order of "everything" included all the alcoholic beverages as well. "I should, hic, give this to Cana," he mumbled. He had finished all the food, but there was still twenty glasses of things in front of him. He was lucky the waitress was sensible and only gave one of each drink rather than ten of each.

He was starting to feel sleepy before he felt a dip in the couch as someone sat down next to him. He blinked and tried to focus on who it was, but couldn't tell. Everything was so blurry. The person reached over for a drink and downed it before saying something to him.

"Wha~at?" Natsu slurred. The person repeated the words, but Natsu still couldn't tell what was said, "Wha~at~~ Heehee~" he laughed and grinned, leaning forward and collapsing on the person.

"Sorry~" he said, but smiled and clung onto the person, "Hey..."

The last thing he could remember was a pair of lips against his. Soft. Wet. A taste of lipstick and someone tugging at his hair. He pressed against the mystery person, feeling the need to kiss harder, to kiss more.

* * *

><p>Natsu woke up drawing a blank. Staring at a ceiling that was covered with glow-in-the-dark stars, he was simply glad that he wasn't staring at a hospital ceiling again. "Loke drove me back?" he grumbled to himself as he sat up and yawned. Huh. That's weird, where was his shirt? He usually slept in pajamas. Looking around, he couldn't recognize anything, but didn't try to think about it too hard- he had a pounding headache.<p>

Stretching, Natsu lifted his hands in a large arc, stopped when his left arm hit something warm. Eyes widening, Natsu slowly turned to look at his left-

"WAAAUUURGHAAA?" he yelled as he jumped out of the bed in shock.

On the other side of the bed, Cana stirred and rolled over, glaring at Natsu, "I was so nice to you last night and that's the first thing you do in the morning? Scream?" From what Natsu could see, she was wearing a tank top and had no signs of a messy night.

Still, he had an uneasy feeling, "So... nice?"

Cana raised her eyebrows, "You don't remember?"

"Um, no?"

"Hn, right, that would explain a lot. You're a virgin, aren't you?"

Natsu's face turned bright red and his eyes widened, "S-So y-you're saying last night, we... we..." He couldn't say it, he didn't want to say it. In fact, his brain couldn't process it.

"We what?" Cana teased.

"Um... You know?" Natsu looked away. What could he possibly say? He still had a giant blank between being with a stranger last night and waking up next to Cana in the morning. He was guessing that- but that would be- _!_ His brain was running on short circuits everywhere.

He must've looked really freaked out because Cana sat up with a concerned look, "Hey, calm down. Nothing happened last night."

"Nothing...?"

"Yea, nothing. I was just teasing. What? Were you hoping for more?"

"No-"

"Oh, we did make-out, though. That's what I meant earlier."

"Ah...?!" Natsu's face turned red again. So... he finally got his first kiss. It wasn't with Erza and he could barely remember it. That's... not exciting at all.

"Hey, why do you look so disappointed?"

"Oh, um, well, I don't remember it."

"Hmm," Cana nodded and stared at Natsu. Natsu, who didn't know what to do, stared back. After an awkward silence, Cana spoke up, "So what does that make us?"

"...Us?"

"Yea," Cana nodded, averting her eyes, "Was that just a make out session? Or...?"

She was strangely calm and it only made Natsu feel more insecure. It was strange, she took everything so easily, like his answer didn't truly matter. It made him feel like a child in comparison. He bit his bottom lip. The obvious answer was _yes_, it was. He didn't know Cana that well aside from a couple of lunches and a few drunken nights at a party. And well, now it's that and a date that ended with a make out session.

But...

She's asking him to be her boyfriend, right? What the heck? Can she even do that? The girl asking the guy out? In all the stories he's heard from high school or even in college, it's the guy who has to make the first move... right? He's sure this doesn't happen every day.

But the thought of staying huddled under the covers from loneliness without Erza rose to the surface. He remembered that he could accidentally hurt someone without meaning to. Someone he cared about.

_No_, that's the right answer. It's not like he liked Cana more than a friend.

But the thought of holding hands with someone, of hugging and laughing with someone flashed through his mind.

"We can be something more."

Cana smiled and reached out for him, "Then why don't we stay here a little longer? I'll drive you back to campus later."

Natsu did as she asked and climbed back into bed. He had made a decision, however, he felt some uncertainty about it. "Hey, Cana?"

"Hm?"

"What happened to my shirt and pants?"

"You spilled alcohol all over yourself just as we were about to leave. Loke was about to leave you behind for that. When we got to my place, he didn't want to drive you further since you looked like you were going to puke everywhere." Right, that explains why he was still at Cana's place. "I got you out of wet clothes just in time for you to pass out."

"Sounds like a regular day," Natsu mumbled.

"Yea, you sure have a knack for causing trouble."

Natsu didn't disagree and Cana leaned in for a kiss. Some while later, Cana suggested it might be a good time for him to go back. She had some work she needed to get done and he had his own homework to do as well. "I'll drive you back," she suggested. Natsu nodded without a second thought.

* * *

><p>"CANA," Natsu screamed over the roaring sound of the highway. Cana had all the windows rolled down and was grinning and laughing as she sped down the road. "CANA, OH SHIT-"<p>

The car swiveled and tilted on its side slightly in order to avoid a car on the other side of the road. Natsu couldn't believe how bad she her driving was. She was practically driving in the middle of a two-way road! And on top of that, his eyes glanced over at the speedometer.

120 mph.

And she claims she hasn't ever gotten a ticket before.

His eyes widened as Cana pressed on the pedal, giggling as she increased the speed of the car, "CANA, SLOW DOWN!" Natsu yelled in panic as he gripped his seatbelt and held down the urge to hurl. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he threw up with all this wind in his face. He would need at least three showers to get rid of the feeling and smell of half digested food on his face.

Oh no, the thought just made him want to hurl more.

He gagged and clapped a hand over his mouth, trying to calm down and picture a peaceful place. It didn't work and his stomach was flip-flopping more and more as Cana drove.

It only took ten minutes to get to campus and Natsu's building, but the moment Cana parked, Natsu bolted out and hurried to the nearest bathroom. Surprised, Cana followed and waited outside the men's room as she heard some unpleasant sounds from inside. Deciding to say nothing, she took a seat in the lobby to wait for him.

After two minutes of emptying out his stomach and cleaning up, Natsu walked out to join Cana in the lobby.

"Natsu, are you alright?"

"...No," he mumbled as he sat down next to her, "What kind of driving was _that_?"

"...Driving."

"You went past 100 mph!"

"So?"

"The speed limit on the high way is 65!"

Cana shrugged, "It's not like I get caught."

"How _do_ you manage to not get caught?"

"I'm good at what I do," she grinned. Natsu didn't have a response for that one and simply leaned back against the sofa and groaned. "By the way," she reached over and grabbed his arm, "I got a text from a buddy who says he can get us into this club on Wednesday, wanna go?"

"Huh? But that's a weekday?"

"So? There's good food and drinks."

"I'm in."

* * *

><p>"Natsu, are you alright?" Gray asked as she placed a tray of food on the previously empty booth. Which was odd, Natsu usually had enough food for five people in front of him during lunch. Gray wasn't sure how he managed to that with their limited meal plans, but Natsu managed to pull it off so far.<p>

"No," he groaned.

"What happened? It's not like you're dating someone who goes mountain climbing at 3AM now," Gray teased, knowing that she was pressing salt into the wound. She wasn't sure why she was being so mean about this subject, but she liked reminding him that they broke up.

"No, I'm dating a woman who drives like she's in a car chase all the time," the thought made him gag and he quickly buckled and covered his mouth, leaning out of the booth to puke on the floor if he had to. Thankfully, he managed to keep everything down.

Gray frowned, "You're... dating someone new?"

"Yea, Cana."

"Cana?" Gray raised an eyebrow, "That quickly? You broke up with Erza like two weeks ago."

"Two and a half."

_So it's a rebound_, Gray realized with furrowed eyebrows. And from the looks of Natsu, it wasn't going to last. "So, are you getting food?"

"No, I'm good."

Gray nearly dropped the French fry she was eating, "_Woah_, Cana did a number on you."

"Shaddup," Natsu grumbled as he looked elsewhere to distract himself. He didn't feel like looking at food right now. Cana had drove him back to his room this morning and he was still feeling the after effects.

A buzz in his jeans pocket alerted him that he had a message. Opening it up, he found that it was from Cana, _some buddies of mine wants to go to the amusement park next weekend._

It was just that. Uhh... was that asking him to come? Telling him to come? _Where is it_, he texted back.

_About an hour away_.

_You're not driving, right?_

_No, why?_

_Nothing, when and where do we meet up?_

Natsu let out a sigh of relief. As long as Cana wasn't driving, he could handle it. Gray was looking at him curiously, but he ignored her as Cana texted him the details. Hey, at least it wasn't another party he's attending.

* * *

><p>Natsu felt like he was going to die. His head was swimming, his stomach was doing flip-flops and the noise level in the car was killing him. He didn't know who was driving, he couldn't remember, but it was one of Cana's friends. Cana was chatting with someone else in the cramped backseat (really, it was five people sitting in a place meant for three) and he felt like he was going to die.<p>

What the hell? He had never gotten carsick before.

When they finally got to solid ground an hour later, all the dizziness left immediately. It was amazing! He never wanted to get on a car again!

"Hey, Natsu," Cana grabbed his hand, "Which ride do you want to go on first?"

"Uh, ride?" why did his stomach get uneasy again? He's never been afraid of roller coasters.

"Oooh, how about that one!" Cana said as she pointed at the tallest ride. Natsu's eyes widened and he couldn't find the words to object, it was like his brain melted out of fear.

Before he knew it, he was being dragged across the park to the ride. And again, before he could find the words to protest, he was already helped into a seat and buckled into the ride.

The ride was over in five minutes, but it felt like an hour for Natsu. He wasn't scared, but the entire thing made him feel sick and once he was let out, he ran for the nearest garbage can to puke out the contents of his breakfast.

"Natsu, are you alright?" Cana yelled as she rushed to his side.

"No..." he mumbled as he leaned against the can. She looked indecisive about what to do so he continued, "Why don't you find everyone else and take rides with them? I'm going to... rest at the... food court."

She was still indecisive so Natsu waved slightly to tell her it was alright before turning to find a place to sit in the crowded area.

"I'll text you when we're going to leave," she yelled.

"Sure," Natsu answered.

Once he sat down and he knew that Cana was nowhere near earshot, he said to himself, "I have to break up with her."

* * *

><p><em>She could see the headlights of the train through the thick fog. In the dead of the night, no one will see her, no one will notice her absence and tomorrow, everyone will go on with their lives like nothing happened. The thought upset her, brought tears to her eyes that she refused to let fall. No one, especially <em>him_, would ever notice-_

_"Juvia! Don't go!"_

"What the hell are you reading?" Gray asked as she sat down next to Natsu. It was Monday and class was about to start, but the professor hadn't arrived yet.

"Some book I found on the table, I think a girl must've left it on here."

"I didn't even know you could read."

"Shut up!"

"Hmm, what book is it, though?" Gray picked up the book and looked at the cover before throwing it back into Natsu's hands. "Not into cheesy romance novels that all claim to be best sellers. Surprise you are," she smirked.

"I'm not!" Natsu protested. "I just opened it up and," he stopped demonstrated, opening it to a random page, "And found that every time the protagonist's name showed up, someone crossed it out and wrote in 'Juvia'." Natsu pointed at a random page and there were indeed blue ink marks all over the page.

"Ah...!" a girl stood in front of the two of them with her hands covering her mouth out of shock.

Natsu and Gray exchanged a look before waiting for a response from the girl. When she didn't say anything else, Natsu held up the book, "Is this yours-"

The book was snatched out of his hands immediately, "Did... Did you look in it?"

"Yea, I did."

"You jerk!" she yelled and before Natsu can say anything in his own defense, she had already dashed out of the room.

"Amazing, Natsu," Gray said as the professor walked in, "You're breaking hearts of girls you don't even know, now."

"Shut up."

"By the way, I'm surprised you're not dead tired today."

Natsu let out a sigh, knowing what Gray was hinting. Every Monday morning, Natsu would walk in looking like he had stayed up all night guarding a fort from zombies. That was because Cana would make him go out with her where she'd get into drinking contest and he'd eat to his heart's content and then somehow wind up drunk. For the past two weeks that they've been dating, he had ended up with a hangover nearly every morning. "I managed to get out of going to whatever party it was by saying I was sick. And I was. With never-ending hangovers."

Gray's face scrunched up in mock pain, but she was glad that Natsu didn't go out with Cana this weekend.

"Hey, Gray."

"What? Don't just say my name and nothing else."

"I'm thinking of breaking up with Cana, would that be wrong?"

"Um," Gray was at a loss of words. Was Natsu asking her for _love advice_? Pretty sure that she wasn't the best person to ask. Both of them were on the same level of blockheadedness after all. Hell, she _still_ isn't sure how the idiot managed to get two girls already. "It shouldn't be wrong if you have the right reasons."

"Heh," Natsu grinned at her, "Thanks, Gray!"

* * *

><p>Sitting in front of Cana at a table in the food court, Natsu suddenly lost all the words he had carefully thought of and prepared in his head. Cana was a good person. She might be tiring and a bit bossy, but ultimately a good person and a good girlfriend. After all, she never once left him drunk at a bar and always took him home.<p>

Shit, he felt really bad.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

Natsu opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. As his eyes darted around and landed on his hands on top of the table, the smile dropped from Cana's face. She could tell where this was going.

"Do you want to break up?" she asked. It took a moment, but Natsu nodded. Cana suddenly let out a laugh and reached over to lift Natsu's head up, forcing him to look at her, "It's fine, I didn't expect this to last anyways."

"You- You didn't?"

Cana smiled softly before leaning over to kiss Natsu on the forehead, "It's not your fault, I missed the feeling of being with someone, too, I suppose. And you were there."

"Cana..."

"Hey, if you ever happen to want to go out for a drink, though, feel free to hit me up!" Cana said and got up from her seat and walked toward the exit, waved a quick good bye before walking out and disappearing from view.

Natsu stayed where he was and stared at his hands again. He had done what he felt was right. It was definitely better this way. He had good times with Cana, but the cons had ended up outweighing the pros. So why did he feel this way? Numb and crushed, a little regretful, but knowing that he had done the right thing. It was an odd mix of sadness and relief and despite the fact that he wasn't on a moving vehicle, he still felt sick to his stomach.

* * *

><p>The door to the empty classroom opened and the lights flickered on.<p>

"...!" the blonde nearly jumped in surprise, "Cana, what are you doing here?"

"Lucy..." Cana, who was sitting in the front row of the classroom glanced up to greet her friend before averting her eyes and looking blankly ahead again.

"Club's about to start and we have this room reserved-" Lucy had walked up to Cana and having seen her friend's expression, stopped talking and hurried into the seat next to her, reaching over and pulling her into a hug, "What happened? What's wrong?"

Cana reached up to rub some tears out of her eyes and off her cheeks, "It's nothing, I was being stupid, that's all."

"This is clearly _not_ nothing."

Cana gave her an uneasy smile before the sobbing came up again and she cried loudly into Lucy's arms. Lucy stayed still and held her for a few minutes before suggesting that they move to the bathroom because the club members would be arriving soon.

After another fifteen minutes in the bathroom, Cana finally calmed down and explained, "Natsu and I broke up."

Lucy blinked, surprised, but not too surprised. She didn't know Natsu Dragneel that well, only having spoken with him once or twice. She knew less of their relationship, "I'm sorry."

"I'm so stupid! I went out with him because I just figured it wouldn't hurt and now... it hurts," she crumbled the napkin in her hands before tossing it aimlessly at a mirror, "You're lucky, Lucy. You have a great and steady boyfriend. I envy you."

Lucy, unable to find any words to say, simply hugged Cana tightly until the tears stopped.

* * *

><p><strong>Right in time for Valentine's Day! I mean, Single Awareness Day. Well, happy Valentine's Day for those with a partner and happy Single Awareness Day for those who do not. (I'm the latter ._.; )<strong>

**Anyways, what a long chapter! It's even longer than the first one, what the heck D: Twenty-one pages this time. I was honestly aiming to write about a rebound relationship between Natsu and Cana and it kinda(?) shows? I mean, the story ended up taking its own accord and because of that the ending ended up rather...depressing. I was actually planning for a happy break up between the two, but it seemed like that just... didn't happen.**

**Another important note, despite all the alcohol content mentioned in this chapter, I'm not advocating it ._.; If you attend parties, always go with a group of reliable friends to take care of you. Know your limits and when to stop drinking. And of course, never drink if you're the designated driver (ofc Laxus broke that rule earlier, but...). In other words... don't follow these characters' examples!**

**For the next chapter, I'll be changing some things up. I'm not going to follow that video exactly XD Which also prompts me to ask, want to take a wild guess as to who the next girl will be? :3 **


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

Finals week was approaching fast and no one had time for parties anymore. Natsu didn't see Cana very often. Whenever he happened to walk past her in a hallway, he would wave 'hi' and ask 'how do you do' without expecting any answer. There was no anger or hatred between them, but there was awkwardness.

And sadness. Together, it mixed into a bitter taste stuck in the back of his throat that he couldn't swallow.

It didn't end the way it did with Erza, but Natsu could tell he had hurt Cana, too. She simply didn't show it or let it bother her and in its own way, it made him feel even worse.

On the bright side, he saw Erza in the library once and instead of getting punched in the face, she wished him good luck on his exams. It was an improvement and while it did make Natsu happy, it didn't make him feel any better about his relationship with the two girls.

"I'm so done," he grumbled with his face in the couch.

"With finals?" Sting asked, looking up from his chemistry textbook, "Lucky bastard."

"No, I have my last one tomorrow."

"You're still a lucky bastard," Sting grumbled. He had to stay until Friday, the last day of finals, because of an original time conflict between two exams and it got moved to the last day.

"I was talking about girls. I don't want to date another one again."

"Saying something like that would get you killed by the envy of all the single men on campus."

"It's fine, I'm not scared of them," Sting rolled his eyes at Natsu's response, "The only time I'd be defenseless is in my sleep and all of you guys minus Jellal have girlfriends so I'm safe. Jellal's married to books so..."

"Even your roommate?"

"Huh?" Natsu tilted his head, "Uh, maybe?"

"It's been an entire semester and I've seen him maybe three times."

"Oh, well, he said he was moving out next semester anyways."

"What? Why? I mean, I don't care what he does since I don't even know him, but I'm curious."

"I don't know. He said something about having found his crew to explore the world with."

"That's... vague. And kind of weird."

"I can understand him," Natsu grinned. It fell back into a frown quickly, "But that's him. Like I was saying, I don't think I want to date anyone ever again."

It was a distraction to talk with Natsu, but Sting didn't actually want to study anymore so why not talk for a little while? "And why's that?"

"I keep messing up and hurt the people I care about."

"It happens, you shouldn't let that get to you, though."

"Have you broken up with a girl before, Sting?"

"Uh... Um, yea, I have."

"How did that work out?"

Sting didn't answer and changed the topic instead, "Never dating again is a bold statement, you know? Are you sure about that?"

"I'll try," Natsu grumbled as he sat up, "By the way, how are you leaving on Friday?"

"Parents will pick me up."

"Where do you live again?"

"Sabertooth Town."

"Heeey!" Natsu grinned at him and Sting felt his stomach drop wearily at the question he knew was going to be put out for him, "That's close to Magnolia Town~ Wanna drive me back~?"

Sting took a moment to picture what would happen if Natsu stayed in the car with him for two hours, "...You'll have to wait until Friday."

"That's fine, I can stick around for two extra days."

Fuck. He was going to regret this, wasn't he? "Fine, you can come along."

"Yaaay!" Natsu exclaimed and threw his hands up.

"By the way, I would've thought you'd leave with Gray since you're both from Magnolia."

"She took the bus back yesterday."

"Fine."

Natsu's last final came and went and although he said he was perfectly fine sticking around for an extra two days, he was ultimately, _really_ bored. By Thursday, the majority of the suite had already left. Jellal took exams back to back for two days and left on Wednesday. Gajeel disappeared two weeks ago to 'study' with his girlfriend (and hopefully he really did because he barely attended classes and would be kicked out if he failed all of his finals). So Natsu wasn't actually sure if Gajeel was still on campus or if he had left already. Of course, Natsu had no idea where his roommate was. He even tried texting him, but the response he got was _'I'm babadsioui'_ like someone had violently pulled the phone out of his hands. Sting's roommate, Rogue, finished his finals on the same day as Natsu and he could hear him packing in the next room over. The only one Natsu could bother would be Sting and after his first try, Sting knew to find a hiding spot in the library to study instead.

As Natsu was laying in bed staring at the ceiling wondering what to do, his phone buzzed. He unlocked it to find that it was a text from his roommate. How rare. _Sorry about that! My friend got angry and tried to throw my phone into the lake_, wait, they have a lake? Where the hell was the guy at? _If you want to come hang out, that's totally cool with all of us!_

Natsu grinned. He might not know his roommate very well, but hey, any cure to boredom is a great thing! Besides, he knew his roommate was a good guy. He could feel it.

_Sure, where are you at?_

_The lake behind the nature preserve_, Natsu was about to send a message asking how to get there when his roommate texted again, _use the red trail behind Cait Shelter Community's Nirvana building._

_Okay, I'll be there in ten_, he texted back before jumping out of bed and hurrying out.

* * *

><p>Natsu lived in Fairy Tail Community and had never really been to Cait Shelter. It was rather far away from the other communities so Natsu had no reason to go there. It wasn't near any academic buildings either so Natsu never needed to run into their dining hall in between classes to grab food.<p>

So halfway across campus, Natsu already had no idea where Cait Shelter was. He could see the tops of strangely peaked buildings in the distance, but no matter which path he took or which building he cut through, he couldn't seem to get closer. And to his disappointment, snow had started to fall.

Natsu didn't hate snow or the cold, but he certainly wasn't fond of it. It reminded him far too much of a certain idiot's touch. He could swear that girl's body temperature wasn't normal. Maybe she's a vampire.

He laughed to himself at the thought, but quickly stopped when a cold wind blew past and caused him to shiver. He wished he had put on a thicker jacket! "Aww man, what are those guys doing outside on such a cold day?" he mumbled to himself.

Maybe he should just give up going. Campus was fairly deserted already so he didn't have anyone to ask for instructions. Just as he was about to give up and turn back, he saw someone walking in the middle of the road ahead.

The person was holding an umbrella and Natsu couldn't see the person's face. It was also a little strange that the person was walking in the dead center of the road, but Natsu didn't think much of it and ran off the sidewalk towards the person.

"Heeeeey-" ah, whoops, he misjudged the distance, didn't he-

There was a loud thump and Natsu felt a sharp pain in his arm and he saw both snow, frosty grass, and sky all at the same time. "...Huh?"

"Ahhh!" there was a shriek and the sound of high heels on pavement as Natsu sat up feeling something warm against his forehead. Slightly dizzy, he reached up and wiped it off himself. Oh. How did he get red paint on him... self...?

He saw two concerned faces and then his vision faded.

* * *

><p>Natsu was sure that he didn't drink because it was finals week and no one would hold parties during finals week. So why the hell was he staring at a hospital ceiling again? Blinking his eyes and taking a deep breath, Natsu sat up in confusion. Why was this mask on him? He quickly ripped that along with other needles off of himself and tried to find where the nurses would have hidden his clothes. He'll just ask Sting or Gray about what happened last night because for sure, Cana would have nothing to do with it.<p>

It was just a passing thought, but he felt his chest tighten for a moment.

Crawling out of bed, the nearby machine let out a beeping sound and in seconds, the door to his room burst open and a nurse rushed in. She took one look at Natsu then at the machine and let out a sigh of relief. "Sir, please lay back down. In fact, you shouldn't be able to get up, yet!"

"I'm fine-" he shifted his arm and froze from the pain. It was only then that he noticed his left arm was in a cast, "Ow ow ow! What happened to me?"

"You mean you don't remember?" the nurse raised an eyebrow. Before Natsu could respond, she continued, "Of course, sudden trauma like that would knock some memory out of you. You got ran over."

"I... did?" all he could remember was snow, an umbrella, and high heels. Well, at least it wasn't a drunken hook up.

"Yes, two girls brought you in."

"... Two girls?"

"Mmhmm, according to what they said, you were really brave."

"...?"

"One of them said that she had been walking around and didn't notice the car behind her so she was really grateful that you pushed her out of the way. She kept apologizing."

"Oh, um. Right," Natsu couldn't remember everything, but he did remember that was _not_ his intention. But he wasn't about to say so now.

"The other one also apologized a lot for running you over."

"Yea, well, I'm okay so I don't mind."

The nurse chuckled, "Well, I would suggest you rest up a bit more-"

"I'm fine, I want to get back home anyways-" Natsu paused, a fact dawning on him, "What day is today?!"

"Friday, what is it-"

"Oh no! My ride home is about to leave without me!"

Natsu proceeded to frantically attempt to run out of the room and the nurse hurried to stop him. She said that he wasn't better yet and he had suffered from a concussion and needed more than a day's rest! It took a while, but Natsu finally calmed down enough to sit down and call Sting to explain the situation.

Of course, Sting couldn't wait an extra day or two for Natsu because his parents had already arrived by the time Natsu called, "I'm sorry, man, but I gotta go. Can't your dad drive you back?"

"He's out of the country right now."

Sting didn't know what to say. Natsu and him were friends, but it wasn't like he could ask his parents to take yet another day off to drive someone _they_ didn't know to some nearby town.

"It's fine, I'll take a bus back," Natsu said. The dread was evident in his voice, though. Bus rides were uncomfortable and nasty. He had to take one up during orientation and he had vowed to never take one again. Yet, here he was, getting ready to take one again.

"Okay. Sorry, though. Hope you get better soon, too."

"Thanks!" Natsu grinned and the two of them exchanged a few more words before the call ended. The nurse agreed to provide him with a computer so he could order his bus tickets online, but made sure that he put down an order for a date that was a week away. He groaned inwardly, this was going to be the most boring week ever.

Over the next few days, Natsu spent his time in the 'game' room. It was a lounge for patients, but all it had were toys in the corner and a television set with two games on the counter. Besides, Natsu couldn't play anything with his arm in a cast. Instead, he went because it was the only place he could have human interaction with someone who wasn't a nurse.

"Wow, you beat me here! Good morning, Wendy!" Natsu greeted the little girl as he sat on a couch near her. The dark hair girl looked up at him with a shy grin and nodded as a greeting before returning to building a house with the worn out blocks provided by the hospital. As far as Natsu knew, Wendy was the only other patient in this hospital. He hasn't seen anyone else. Not that he was surprised, this place was a college town.

"What are you building?"

"Um, a town," the girl answered in a small voice as she stole a glance up at Natsu.

"...?" Natsu tilted his head before joining her on the floor, "Speak up, I can't hear you!"

Wendy took a deep breath, "I'm building a town!"

"Oh, a town!" Natsu grinned and looked at the block. Indeed, the blocks were arranged like buildings on a sidewalk. "Hmm, what's this large open space?"

"The...park. Next to the clock tower."

"A park and a clock tower?" the words together surprised Natsu, "...Hey, Wendy! Are you from Magnolia town? There's a park next to a clock tower there, too!"

Wendy flinched slightly at Natsu's excitement and a blush crept over her face, "No...My step-brother lives there," she mumbled.

"Oh, cool! Do you like it at Magnolia?"

Wendy nodded and Natsu grinned again. "Cool! Then you should come visit and we'll hang out there, too!"

"R-really? I would lo-"

"Wendy, are you alright? Your skin looks a bit flushed- WOAAAAHH!" Wendy suddenly toppled over and Natsu hurried to reach over to catch her before she hit the ground. "Wendy! You're burning up!" even with his extra high body temperature, Natsu could tell the girl had a high fever. "Hey, doctor! Nurses! I need help!" Natsu tried to pick her up with one arm, but found that he could only throw her over his shoulder or hold her by the waist, both of which he figured would be uncomfortable for a sick girl.

* * *

><p>So he did the only other thing he could, yell on the top of his lungs, "HEY! I NEED HELP! WENDY HAS A FEVER AGAIN!"<p>

It wasn't long before nurses came running into the game room to carry Wendy away on a stretcher. They also helped Natsu back to his room and gave him checkups despite his protests. He was perfectly fine! Send more help to Wendy!

The doctors made him stay in bed for the rest of the day, much to his disappointment. The next day, he didn't see Wendy in the game room and when he asked the nurses, they told him that she was still sleeping after her medication.

"What's wrong with her anyways?" he mumbled in curiosity.

"Sorry, we're not allowed to give that information out."

Natsu tried to pry a little further, but none of them would say anything more than that. He was disappointed, but he supposed that him knowing what was wrong with the little girl wouldn't help her feel better. Eventually he gave up and stayed in his room staring at the ceiling. He hoped he could see her tomorrow since he was getting discharged. He'd want to say goodbye before leaving.

The next day came and Wendy still wasn't better. Frowning, he decided he should leave a note to let her know he was leaving. He didn't want her to think that he simply forgot about her and left. Sure, he only knew her for a few days, but she was the only person there to make him less bored.

_Sorry I couldn't say goodbye in person. Feel better soon and come visit Magnolia so we can play together :)_

_-Natsu_

Good enough. He gave the note to a nurse at the front desk before calling a taxi to bring him back on campus to get his bags. He had contacted the university to make arrangements for him to leave and thankfully, there was still staff around to unlock the building for him to get his stuff.

As the taxi rolled to a stop in front of the hospital, Natsu had a sudden uneasy feeling in his stomach. Was he... scared of a car ride? Yes, he had gotten carsick the last couple of times he was in a moving vehicle, but it wasn't like he was _definitely_ going to be carsick. And, uh, don't they charge extra (like a _lot_ extra) for puking in the back seat? Oh, shit, that thought just made his stomach turn.

Natsu nervously climbed into the car and closed the door to the passenger seat. He gagged and covered his mouth with his hand. The driver caught sight of that and flinched, worried for his car.

"I'm... I'm fine," Natsu reassured as he shook his head, trying to force the feeling away. "Just hurry back, please."

Natsu wasn't sure how he survived the ride back to the university, but he somehow made it without puking in the car. He did, however, puke the moment he got on solid ground. The transition wasn't done gently enough. From the corner of his eye, he saw the driver cringe and mumble a sarcastic thanks for not having puked in his car.

Natsu nodded and rolled his eyes, handing him the cash for the ride. The taxi backed out of the parking lot and into the road out of the city.

As he made his way through the building to his suite and room, Natsu wondered why he couldn't handle being in a car. It was weird, he never had any problems with being in a car before, but now he can barely stomach the thought of being in one. Opening the door and walking into an uncomfortably empty suite, he suddenly wondered how he was going to survive the bus ride home.

"So at first I didn't quite understand why you asked me to come pick you up, but now I kinda understand," Gray said as she tried to look away from the bile on the edge of the sidewalk. "What the hell happened to you? Last thing you told me was that you're coming back with Sting and then a week later, you come back with a cast and puke all over the place."

"Hmm," Natsu grumbled, unable to think of a good comeback with his head still swimming around. Did he really grow to have carsickness all of a sudden? It's not that much of a surprise, he supposed, given how bad his luck with moving vehicles had been. "I got into a car accident," he finally said after he emptied his stomach.

"A car accident?" Gray asked with wide eyes, "And... you didn't tell me?"

"Forgot to," Natsu said as the dizziness began to disappear, "I wasn't really in the right state of mind on that car ride."

"I'm talking about the full week you were in the hospital."

"I forgot," Natsu repeated with emphasis as he began walking in the direction of his house, tugging his suitcase behind him.

"Natsu!" Gray reached out and tugged on his non-cast arm, the one that was pulling the suitcase, so it was an awkward stop.

"What?"

Gray looked like she wanted to say something. She had her mouth open, the words ready to come out, but nothing did. She took a breath, let go, and walked ahead, "You're a dumbass, how do you get hurt at the start of vacation?"

"B-Because," Natsu stammered, trying to catch up, "I-I saved a girl!"

"Bullshit."

* * *

><p>Because he's a proper gentleman and certainly not a hot-headed hooligan, Natsu walked Gray home. Of course, it probably wasn't polite to call a girl out late at night during the winter to come pick him up, but this made up for it. Right? Right. Granted, they argued the entire way back.<p>

"I hope you break your other arm!" Gray yelled at him as she slammed the door.

"Yea! Only because I'd be doing more awesome and heroic things than you!" he yelled back. Already, he could see some lights being turned on as she stomped through the hallway and up stairs to her room. Natsu smirked. It really was great that he had a best friend like Gray who would go out of her way to help him out.

Just as he was about to leave, the window opened and Gray poked her head out. "Natsu! ...Thanks for walking me back."

"No problem!" he flashed a grin at her and gave her a thumbs up. They stayed that way for a moment before the moment started feeling a bit awkward and she shut the window and he started to walk back home.

He hadn't walked a full block when he noticed the fringes of a dress disappearing behind a building. That was odd, he didn't think there were many girls out this late. Deciding to not think about it too much, he continued on.

He didn't live that far away from Gray, the longer trek had been from the bus station to her house. Bringing the suitcase up his front porch was a little difficult, but he managed. As he fumbled with his keys, he thought he heard a twig crack as though someone stepped on it. He quickly turned around and scanned the surroundings.

Nothing there.

Must've been a deer.

Stepping inside, he flipped on the lights and called, "Happy, I'm home!" There was a soft meow and a cat came dashing down the stairs to greet Natsu. He purred and rubbed himself around Natsu's leg before sitting down obediently. Natsu laughed as he bent down and picked Happy up. Happy had always been a friendly cat, always up for playing games and greeting whomever came home. Whenever his friends came over, they were always confused, asking if Happy was actually a small dog with a long tail. Natsu hadn't a clue why they would ask that! Just where were they getting the idea that cats were lazy and stuck up? If he ever found out who started that rumor about cats, he'd punch the person in the face! Or let the person meet Happy, because he clearly hadn't met an awesome cat like Happy.

"So Igneel's still on his business trip," Natsu mumbled as he turned on the kitchen lights and began searching for a snack. All that bus traveling had made him hungry! "He won't be back for another three days, what do you want to eat-" Natsu paused mid sentence as he stared at the kitchen window.

It was dark outside and he couldn't see the surroundings very well, but pressed against the glass was a girl's face staring wide eyed at him. As soon as they locked eyes, she turned away and disappeared.

"...What?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hi there, it's been a while! (And I hope my writing style didn't change that much!) I still have to go back and reread and edit things, but I thought I'd write the author's note first. Because, why not?<strong>

**First, I figured I'd best apologize for taking so long. School's a distraction and finding a job's a distraction and... and... so on. I'm sorry!**

**Second, the chapter's so short! D: And who's the girl this time? Well, I wrote up half of this chapter a couple months ago and finished up in the summer so a lot of the original plot I had... kinda got lost in the maze of my brain. I do remember that I decided on an intermission chapter so no girl for Natsu this chapter! Although there were new girls introduced here! But a few of you guessed right, the next girl is Juvia! ...Kinda. (Haha :D)**

**He won't be showing up anymore, but if anyone can guess who Natsu's roommate was, I'd be impressed. (Hint: Think **_**off**_** the page)**


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